


Done

by wakandan_wardog



Series: Wardog's WinterIron Week Fills [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Flirting, M/M, Sass, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 14:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19947625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wakandan_wardog/pseuds/wakandan_wardog
Summary: Tony has just started prep work to remove the old arm and install the new one he's built, and already James is impatient. Or maybe he just wants to needle his boyfriend a little? Tony gets pretty cute when he's annoyed.This is a fill for the following WinterIron Week prompts:Day 2: “You done yet?”





	Done

James has been sprawled in the padded chair for close to an hour now, watching through half-lowered lids as the two robots bicker and poke at each other over the final manufacturing tasks. On his left side sits their maker, Tony Stark, the billionaire philanthropist mechanic in charge of this entire fiasco, the man crazy enough to build a super-assassin a metal arm. Crazy enough to house and feed an entire superhero team, too, but that part isn't really up for discussion at the moment.

Tony's lab is a wonderland, an entire floor's worth of space in the New York tower and technically two floors high. There are stairs and platforms up above his head around the far edges of the room, and with his enhanced vision he can see scorch and impact marks on the distant ceiling. Brightly colored lights, text, and projected images hang suspended in the air overhead, some animated like old carnival games or scoreboards. The air is comfortably chilled and clean, not damp or musty, well-filtered in this modern environment. Even though he can’t see it, James can almost feel that they’re in a tower, a technologically advanced paradise sprawling above a perpetually-lively New York. 

Nothing like being underground, like being trapped in old bases buried in the mountains of Europe. Nothing like his time as the Winter Soldier, the fist of HYDRA, the old ghost story. He’s not in a cage here, doesn’t live in a cell or a cryogenic chamber, doesn’t answer to handlers or bow to the whims of HYDRA, the Soviets, or the Nazis. There are a dozen different ways to confirm that he’s out, free, no longer a prisoner or a sleeper agent being awoken only to usher in a new chaotic regime change. 

The loudest clue that he’s alive in the future is the one standing next to him, fiddling with a mostly-assembled prosthetic on a nearby side table. Tony Stark is a modern marvel, as far as James is concerned, a genius and a hero wrapped in one sensational package. On the shorter side, Tony fits easily under James’s chin. In spite of that, the man’s got enough presence to fill a stadium, magnetic and dynamic and explosive. People always think Tony is taller than he is, but if he's in your face and chewing you out about something, chances are you don't even notice the height discrepancy.

The billionaire is smart, smarter than anyone James has ever met, sharp as a tack and wicked quick with a joke or a cutting remark. His dark hair is a little longer than conventional styles, wildly curling when he’s been in the workshop or a meeting has stressed him enough to run his hands through it and destroy his usual styling. It slides like silk through James's fingers, dark strands thick and silver-streaked. His goatee may be outrageously shaped and sculpted, but it calls attention to his jaw and frames his pretty mouth so it’s just good sense to let it slide. Unsurprisingly Tony can wear anything, a tuxedo, a uniform, pajamas, the Iron Man suit, his custom-designed undersuit, a business suit, all of them look equally good. Even now he’s unfairly attractive, in casual jeans in a black tank. 

Out of a desire to completely different from HYDRA the billionaire has eschewed any traditional lab gear and the industry of sleeves in general. When he crosses his arms over his chest, his well-built shoulders and arms remain on display due to the black tank top clinging to his form. Barnes watches each breath with avarice, making sure to crack a comment now and then to prompt Stark into planting his hands on his hips or fold them across his chest in disapproval. So far Tony has fallen for it every time, and James has committed each flex and stretch to memory for review at a later date. The man's gorgeous, and as long as he's there James is gonna look at him. 

Aside from being handsome and intelligent and funny and beyond perfect to look at, Tony’s proven himself a compassionate and caring person. Without hesitation, he’d offered Barnes a home, a place on the team, food, and lodging for the foreseeable future. Stark has shown him every kindness, from pioneering the technology that helped him overcome HYDRA’s brainwashing to housing and feeding him without complaint, even going so far as to build him a new arm. 

A technological marvel of an arm, if Stark is to be believed. 

James believes him. 

“You done yet?” James asks just to needle the other brunet, smirking up at the irritated whiskey-colored eyes that dart his way. “Or ya gonna keep me like this all day?”

“Am I done yet?” Tony bristles, spinning around to glare down at the lazy blue eyes sparkling up at him. 

“That’s what I’m askin’,” James interrupts just for the way Tony puffs up indignantly.

Once again, hands are on hips, and James is a winner winner chicken dinner. 

Tony leaps headlong into a rant, completely missing the way James is watching him with soft eyes or the way he licks his lips. “Am I done redefining robotics and prosthetics as we know it? Am I done utterly destroying all preconceptions of technology-based enhancements in place of trauma-damaged limbs and organs? Am I done building a revolutionary prosthetic that will integrate with the human brain, nerves and remaining muscle structure through the use of nanite technology and therefore maintain tensile strength to survive a super soldier’s demands on strength and functionality, while also being able to convey feelings of pressure, temperature and a varying range of sensitivity?” 

James watches the man stalk closer, ignoring the way Tony’s voice gets progressively louder. Once the genius is in reach James moves, using his HYDRA issued arm to sweep the genius into his lap and settling the Stark's muscular thighs to frame his hips. “Yeah, Doll, you done yet?”

“Soldier boy, when I’m done with you, you’re gonna know it,” Tony promises darkly, leaning until they’re nose to nose so he can growl his next words against James’s mouth. “You’re gonna know it because they’re gonna need a bucket to pour you into so they can wheel you away to recover.” 

James shivers but in a good way, less apprehension and more anticipation. “That a promise, Babe?”

Tony's eyes glint like gold in the light, honest and intent. “You bet your ass, Snowflake.” 

James laughs, leaning up to kiss his boyfriend on that pretty, sharp mouth he’s become obsessed with. “Well then, you better cut the chatter and get started.” 

“Bossy, bossy, bossy,” Tony laments against his lips. “Whatever you say, Sergeant.”


End file.
